The panel, which deliberated for less than a day after a
six-week trial, found today that the electronics retailer
suffered $7 million in damages. An attorney for HannStar said
Best Buy isn’t entitled to recover any money because the jury
also determined that fixing of prices for liquid crystal display
panels didn’t have a direct effect on trade in the U.S.

“We’re thrilled with the verdict,” HannStar’s lawyer,
Robert Freitas, said after the jury was excused.

The jury cleared Tokyo-based Toshiba, finding that Best Buy
didn’t prove it participated in the price-fixing conspiracy.
Best Buy told the jury that it was owed as much as $700 million
because price fixing drove up costs for panels.

Roman Silberfeld, Best Buy’s attorney, declined to comment
on the verdict.

Best Buy’s lawsuit stemmed from a U.S. investigation of a
global conspiracy to fix LCD prices. Since 2008, companies
including LG Display Co., Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd. (2475), Chi Mei
Optoelectronics Corp. and Sharp Corp. agreed to plead guilty and
pay a total of more than $890 million in fines.

Toshiba wasn’t indicted in the criminal probe. The company
denied fixing prices.

The case is In Re TFT-LCD (Flat Panel) Antitrust
Litigation, 07-01827, U.S. District Court, Northern District of
California (San Francisco).